ICC prosecutor wants to investigate Kenya violence

NAIROBI, Kenya 
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Thursday that Kenya's postelection violence that killed more than 1,000 people was a crime against humanity and pledged to initiate proceedings that could result in top officials facing trial.

Luis Moreno Ocampo said he told President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga that he will ask the Netherlands-based ICC judges to allow him to formally open an investigation into the violence that followed a contentious presidential election.

The fighting erupted along tribal lines amid accusations by the opposition that Kibaki's ruling party rigged presidential elections. Odinga was his rival and the violence ended when they agreed to a power-sharing arrangement.

Kenyans whose loved ones were butchered during the spasm of violence that lasted from December 2007 to February 2008 have doubted that those responsible would ever face justice in Kenya, where the courts are seen as weak and susceptible to corruption.

Harun Mwangi Macharia, whose 3-year-old daughter died when the church her family sought shelter in was torched by Kalenjin warriors, was gratified that there might now be trials.

"So that it is a lesson for future generations, they should be prosecuted without mercy," Macharia said of the culprits, adding that if they are not prosecuted, violence will be "inevitable" during Kenya's next nationwide vote in 2012. Macharia's wife saved five of their six children from the church inferno and suffered third-degree burns.

More than 600,000 people were displaced, over 40,000 buildings were burnt and more than 3,000 women were raped, many allegedly by the police, in Kenya's worst violence since winning independence from Britain in 1963.

"I consider the conflict in Kenya a crime against humanity," Moreno Ocampo said.

Kibaki and Odinga said Thursday that the government will fully cooperate with the ICC, even though some Cabinet members are suspected of being organizers of the savagery.

"We are ready and willing to work and cooperate with Mr. Ocampo to ensure that those who bear the responsibility for the crimes that were committed are brought to justice," Odinga said.

Several human rights organizations blamed businessmen and politicians in the current administration.

The clashes severely damaged Kenya's reputation – the region's largest economy had long been regarded as a haven of stability in a region roiled by brutal civil wars. Tourism, the country's second largest foreign exchange earner, also took a hit.

The power sharing signed in February 2008 detailed wide-ranging reforms seen as essential for Kenya to avoid future violence. But little has been done.

Moreno Ocampo's office has been evaluating whether the Kenyan violence constituted crimes against humanity since January 2008. In July, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who mediated an end to the violence, sent Moreno Ocampo a sealed envelope with the names of suspected ringleaders named by an independent commission.

The commission kept those names secret, saying they are powerful individuals who could interfere with future investigations, but did say that a handful of Cabinet ministers, businesspeople and police officers are listed.

The commission had recommended that the government form an independent tribunal with Kenyan and foreign judges to try the suspects, arguing that Kenyan courts are not credible. Failing that, it recommended the ICC take over the cases. Both recommendations won wide local and international support.

The government has so far failed to form an independent tribunal. Kibaki and Odinga said Thursday that the government remains committed to setting up a "local mechanism."

The International Criminal Court would only prosecute the ringleaders of violence. Prosecutions of street-level criminals would have to be carried out by Kenya.

A lawmaker has sponsored a bill aimed at setting up a local tribunal. Parliament will debate the bill next week.

The lawmaker, Gitobu Imanyara, said that Kenyan leaders thought they could avoid dealing with the issue by not creating a tribunal, but that Moreno Ocampo's action on Thursday showed that perpetrators will face trial.